Foot in Mouth

During the foot and mouth crisis in 2001 in Britain and France, I heard three reporters (for ABC, NBC, and MSNBC) refer to this event as an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease.  Ah, the quality of American higher education and the American journalists it produces . . .

How's this for a motto: “ABC NEWS: we bring you the world, at least insofar as we misunderstand it.” This bizarrely uninformed reporting temporarily replaced my fuming at “international” correspondents for the networks referring to certain crucial events in South African affairs as occurring in “Soweto Township.”  One would think that a correspondent in South Africa would know that "Soweto" stands for “South West Township.”